Dani turned to Easton who nodded before he veered off and Dani continued on. Off to the right hand side a long red brick wall separated the council blocks from the backyards of terraced houses on an adjacent street. Unless there was an alley or a snicket of some sort in that wall then there was a good chance that the man would head left after the tower blocks, and with Easton coming around the side they’d corner him.

Dani’s heart beat wildly in her chest, and she was quickly losing pace from the initial sprint. Unlike in the movies, it really wasn’t possible to continue at full pelt for minutes on end. Her pace had already dropped to little more than a fast jog, and although the man was slowing too, she was struggling to further close the distance. The jeers and shouts from a group of kids and teenagers loitering in the expansive yard told her exactly what she must have looked like as she huffed and puffed along in her trouser suit.

‘He went that way!’ someone shouted.

‘No, that way. He went inside.’

‘Please don’t arrest me, miss.’

And, of course, the obligatory, ‘Show us ya tits.’

Dani ignored them all. Up ahead the man took the left after the tower block, just as Dani hoped he would, but this meant he was momentarily out of sight. Pumping her arms and legs as fast as she could, but with the build-up of lactate in her muscles now severely hampering her speed and making her legs feel like lead weights, Dani rounded the corner.

Realising the man was nowhere to be seen, she came to an abrupt stop.

Chest heaving, drops of sweat running down her face and down the small of her back, Dani gazed ahead. She heard more calls from behind her but ignored them. A narrow passageway of garages led into the distance, coming to a stop at a T-junction with yet another row of garages off to the left and right. There was no sign of the man at all. Could he have made it to the end and turned already?

There was no sign of Easton either. He should have been coming from the left, around that corner in front.

Moving cautiously, Dani edged forwards, her eyes busy.

She looked up at the concrete tower blocks. Even if the man didn’t know this place, or anyone here, he still had the upper hand. Chances were few people around would help the police, if they could avoid it. It was the sad and unfortunate case that in many of the poorer communities in the city there was still a ‘them versus us’ mentality when it came to the police.